The Bahía Blanca Estuary, Argentina

PERILLO, GERARDO M. E.; PICCOLO, M CINTIA; PARODI, ELISA; FREIJE, R HUGO

Coastal Marine Ecosystems of Latin America

Springler Verlag,

Lugar: Berlín; Año: 2000; p. 205 - 217

Bahia Blanca is a mesotidal coastal plain estuary in the southwest of theBuenos Aires Province, Argentina. The estuary represents the remainingpart of a complex delta, formed by the Desaguadero river (Perillo 1989),which once extended over almost 200km from the northern coast ofBahia Blanca to Bahia San BIas (Fig. 14.1). The Principal Channel of themodern estuary approximately corresponds to the principal valley of thelate Pleistocene-early Holocene delta complex, which was formed by anow vanished river and its tributary, the Colorado River (or one of itsarms). The southward migration of the Colorado River subsequentlycarved the other major channels (i.e., Falsa, Verde, and Brightman bays)of the estuary (Perillo 1989). The modern Bahia Blanca Estuary extendsover about 2,300km2 and is formed by several tidal channels (740km2) ,extensive tidal flats (l,IS0km2) with patches of low salt marshes, andislands (410km2; Montesarchio and Lizasoain 1981). Owing to markeddifferences in surface morphology, the area can be divided along the northernshore of Falsa Bay into a funnel-shaped northern part, characterizedby the Principal Channel and many small tidal creeks, and asouthern part, dominated by the Falsa,Verde,and Brightman bays (Perilloand Piccolo 1999; Fig. 14.1).